Dangers HereBears: how to avoid an encounter and what to do in one
Bear attacks are rare and almost always defensive. The animal is startled, is protecting cubs, or is guarding a food source. Which species you are among changes the correct response completely, and getting that wrong is what turns a survivable encounter into a fatal one.
- 13High risk
- 10Medium
- 7Low
- 30Zones tracked
Brown, black and polar are three different problems
A brown or grizzly bear that charges is usually defending itself or its cubs: play dead, face down, pack on, hands behind the neck. A black bear that approaches persistently is behaving predatorily: fight back, aim for the face, make yourself loud and large. A polar bear is hunting you — there is no defensive posture that helps, which is why the Arctic zones tracked here assume firearms and trained guides.
Food is the whole game
Almost every problem bear is a bear that has learned to associate people with calories. In bear country that means sealed canisters, cooking away from your tent, and no food or scented items in the tent at all. A fed bear is eventually a destroyed bear, and in the meantime it is a dangerous one.
How to avoid it
- Make noise on trails, especially near streams, in wind, and around blind corners — surprise is the trigger.
- Carry bear spray where it is legal, keep it on your belt rather than in your pack, and know how to use it.
- Travel in groups; attacks on groups of four or more are very rare.
- Store food in approved canisters or hangs, and cook well away from where you sleep.
- Never run — you cannot outrun any bear, and running triggers pursuit.
- Give any bear with cubs an enormous margin, and never position yourself between them.
Where we track it
30 zones in the Dangers Here hazard database, by danger level.
High
- Alaska & Yukon — brown / grizzly bears
- Arctic Alaska — Beaufort & Chukchi coast
- Canadian Arctic & Greenland
- European Arctic — Svalbard & Barents region
- Himalaya — Asiatic black bears
- Hokkaido, Japan — Ussuri brown bears
- Honshu, Japan — Asiatic black bears
- India — sloth bears
- Russia — Siberia & Kamchatka brown bears
- Russian Arctic — Barents to Chukchi coast
- Sri Lanka — sloth bears
- US Northern Rockies — Yellowstone & Glacier
- Western Canada — British Columbia & Rockies
Medium
- Canada — American black bears
- Carpathian Mountains — Romania, Slovakia & Ukraine
- Caucasus, Anatolia & the Alborz
- Dinaric Alps & the Balkans
- Eastern United States — American black bears
- Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska — Kodiak bears
- Northeast Asia — Asiatic black bears
- Scandinavia & Finland — brown bears
- Trentino & the Eastern Alps
- Western United States — American black bears
Low
- Andes — spectacled bears
- Borneo — sun bears
- Cantabrian Mountains & Pyrenees
- Central Apennines — Marsican brown bears
- Mainland Southeast Asia — sun bears
- Sichuan & Shaanxi — giant pandas
- Sumatra — sun bears
Questions
Where are bears a risk?
We track 30 zones for this hazard. 13 are rated high risk, including Alaska & Yukon — brown / grizzly bears, Arctic Alaska — Beaufort & Chukchi coast, Canadian Arctic & Greenland, European Arctic — Svalbard & Barents region, Himalaya — Asiatic black bears. 10 are rated medium and 7 low.
How do you avoid bears?
Make noise on trails, especially near streams, in wind, and around blind corners — surprise is the trigger. Carry bear spray where it is legal, keep it on your belt rather than in your pack, and know how to use it. Travel in groups; attacks on groups of four or more are very rare.
Brown, black and polar are three different problems
A brown or grizzly bear that charges is usually defending itself or its cubs: play dead, face down, pack on, hands behind the neck. A black bear that approaches persistently is behaving predatorily: fight back, aim for the face, make yourself loud and large. A polar bear is hunting you — there is no defensive posture that helps, which is why the Arctic zones tracked here assume firearms and trained guides.
Get the alerts on your phone
Dangers Here warns you when you enter a hazard zone — even offline, even with the app closed. No account, no tracking, free.
Other hazards
- Africanised bees
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